Grits weren’t only government who OK’d LMOs for exotic dancers

As the temporary foreign worker controversy rambles on, the Conservatives have taken on a new tactic: slinging mud at the Liberals for opening the temporary foreign worker program to exotic dancers more than a decade ago.

But documents that have been on the record for since 2012 show that positive labour market opinions for exotic dancers carried on for years after Stephen Harper moved into 24 Sussex.

Under The Paul Martin Liberals, the federal government approved temporary work permits to 681 exotic dancers in 2003, 423 in 2004 and 125 in 2005. In all, that represents two thirds of all exotic dancers issued positive labour market opinions between 2003 and 2011.

At the time, the opposition Conservatives hammered the ruling Liberals on the issue and more recently, have pulled the issue back out of the toolkit with Conservative member’s of Parliament taking digs at the Liberals in question period about their party’s responsibility for the program.

“It was the Liberals who created the low-skill stream in 2002 and let us not forget, it is the Liberals who admitted 600 strippers as temporary foreign workers every single year. That is their record,” Kenney said in question period on April 29.

However, in the June 2012 response to an order paper question from Liberal Judy Sgro, the then-parliamentary secretary to the minister of citizenship and immigration, Rick Dykstra, acknowledged that the government had given and renewed work permits for 606 exotic dancers since the Conservatives first came to power in 2006. While the numbers are significantly lower than during the Liberal era, the number of positive labour market opinions given to exotic dancers each year had steadily increased over the six-year span. In 2006, the government issued 57 temporary work permits, the figure grew to 156 in 2011.

At the time, Citizenship and Immigration was unable to provide exact data distinguishing between the number of new and renewed temporary work permits issued by the department now known as Employment and Social Development Canada.

When asked, the Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander’s office told iPolitics the number of visas issued to exotic dancers was a “small proportion” of those approved by the Liberals. The office also said that the number of new temporary work permits issued was “very small,” with just eight new LMOs being approved for this group in 2011. The department also said only 496 visas were issued to exotic dancers by the Conservative government. It is unclear what accounts for the discrepancy.

It is also uncertain why the government initially approved labour market opinions for employers seeking to hire exotic workers. But in 2012, the government announced changes to the temporary foreign worker program to with the stated aim of protecting vulnerable workers. Companies linked to the sex trade would be issued negative labour market opinions and thus be unable to hire temporary foreign workers, the government said at the time.

When asked for comment about the program, a spokesperson for Employment and Social Development Minister Jason Kenney — he held Alexander’s job from late 2008 until last summer — provided a translation of a statement made in question period last week.

“As soon as we came to power, we put in place a moratorium on this program. However, the law required a modification to eliminate the program entirely, and to do that, we have proposed on three separate occasions such a modification to the law when we were in a minority government to eliminate this program. Every time, the NDP and Liberals opposed our efforts to put an end to the program. Finally, it was our Conservative majority government that passed this bill.”

The Minister’s answer was in response to a question by NDP MP Ève Péclet, who asked how the Minister can be “all holier than thou and criticize the Liberals, when for six years, his government determined that Canada lacked skilled dancers?”

The temporary foreign worker program has come under fire in recent weeks after a spate of allegations of abuse. Last year, the Royal Bank of Canada was accused of replacing Canadian workers with temporary foreign workers. Then, last month, three McDonalds restaurants in Victoria had their LMOs suspended by Employment and Social Development Canada after reports surfaced that they were giving temporary foreign workers priority status or more hours than their Canadian colleagues.

Both New Democrats and Liberals have been putting pressure on the government to make drastic changes to the program, and for the auditor general to probe the temporary foreign worker program.

The government is in the process of reviewing the program, and has put a moratorium on new applications for temporary foreign workers. Kenney has suggested that stricter rules may be on the horizon. He has also said that employers who abuse the program could face charges.

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